RE: Welcome to Brummies Talking - 10

Quote: astoness wrote in post #172

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Quote: phil wrote in post #169

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Hi Anne

I'm glad I was able to convince you to say hello, I should have warned you to keep quiet about being Grahams sister.

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its something i would have done phil...

joking apart hello ann and welcome to our little outfit...hope you enjoy oh and dont forget our OPEN ALL HOURS THREAD..thats where we just have our little chit chats about anything really..

lyn

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Hello Ann.

Hello Anne.

I'm Tony; born at 61 Kyotts Lake Road, just off the Stratford Road, on the edge of the city centre. I moved with my family to a new house in Old Croft Lane, Shard End in 1952 (aged 5) and lived there until my mum and dad separated in 1961. Then, with my mum, I lived in Nechells, not far from Mount St. where she was born and brought up.

I went to secondary school at Alderlea in Shard End (now demolished and developed for housing), and Eliot St. SM in Nechells for my last year in 1961/2. Some of my school friends there were Gordon Hodges, Alan Rowlands and Sue Bird, to name a few. At Alderlea I remember the twins, David and Leslie Coles, Kenneth and Alan Hall, Robert Hughes, Norman Lane and David Webb who became a Villa footballer. It was a boys only school, so no memories of any girls from this period of my life.

From the time I left school in April 1962 until the end of 1963 I worked as an apprentice compositor for Buckler & Webb Ltd. one of B'ham's premier printing companies. They did high quality printing work for Cadbury's, GKN, Austin/Morris, and many other Birmingham manufacturing businesses. I believe the company was taken over by a larger printing firm sometime in the mid/late /70's.

The building Buckler & Webb occupied was on the corner of Church St. and Cornwall St. a couple of hundred yards down from Colmore Row. In 1980 I discovered a lovely book about Birmingham architecture and found that their offices and factory was a grade II listed building. Sadly the rules for protecting our magnificent buildings were totally ignored. I made a trip to see the building again and found and a bland and uninspiring 'sky-scraper' office block had been erected in its place. I'd love to know if there are any photographs of the building sitting somewhere in an archive somewhere?

I can remember the names of most of my work colleagues (and mentors) at Buckler & Webb. Finding out more about them would be a lot of fun. One of them, Johnny Davies, now in his 70's, played football for Alvechurch. Johnny used to tease me a lot but that was the way of the older seasoned apprentice and the 'new-boy'!

Others I remember are Dave Elliott, Bill Campion (from Wales) both more senior apprentices than myself. Tony Summers was another apprentice working to become a monotype operator and was the man who bought me my first pint of Ansells bitter at the age of 16. More senior compositors were the Tom's… Gazey, Meredith and Boffey. John Eustace, Norman Weston (now in his early 90's if he is still around), Dave Reynolds are others I remember; Ron Bibby who was the deputy foreman, and Walter (sadly I can't remember his surname) was the foreman. I suspect that many of them are now gone. :-(

I used to sit in occasionally and read the original copy for Jack Round - one of the proof readers. His usual copy reader was Janet Roberts who was then around 22 years old and would now be in her early 70's. She was a very polite lady, very attractive and totally out of my league! Jack was possibly the oldest person in the compositors' shop.

I had a couple of other jobs on leaving Buckler & Webb, with JR Gaunt & Son Ltd. (button and badge manufacturers) in the Jewellery quarter. This was a long established family business which was absorbed (I think?) into the Birmingham Mint. I then worked for W. Canning Ltd. on Constitution Hill for the best part of 1964 and up to the time I left to join the Royal Navy in January 1965.

My personal life revolved around playing table tennis in the Birmingham league (I played for Warwickshire juniors) at the YMCA at the bottom of Snow Hill. I believe it is still there? I survived on one meal a day at lunch time and then a couple of bars of chocolate in the evening. Not a good diet!

My final exit from the city, at the age of 17 years and 8 months, was to catch a train to Plymouth from New St. station. It was on a cold bright January morning. My dad ( a brummy through and through) saw me off, pushed a fiver into my hands and wished me the best of luck on my new life and career. This was the day after Winston Churchill died in January 1965. Leaving my home town began a journey that has taken me the length and breadth of the UK, and abroad to places like Singapore, Hong Kong, the middle east (Qatar) and lots of other foreign places on board some of the ships I served on. My job in the navy was as a photographer and I finished my service time as a Petty Officer in April 1974.

I've lived in Torpoint, Helston, Lee-on-the-Solent, Scotland (Lossiemouth), Portsmouth, Londonderry (where I met my wife Val who was in the WRNS and worked as an Education Assistant), Portland, Weymouth, Wolverhampton, Wellington (Shropshire, where my lovely wife is from), Devizes, Seaford, Locks Heath (near Fareham), and Chorley in Lancashire. We now live in Chalfont St. Peter, in south Bucks. Gosh, so many places, it's no wonder that the Birmingham I lived in has changed so much. Or perhaps it hasn't? I'm hoping to find out more by being a member of this little community!

I've been married to Val since 1969 and we have three wonderful children; two girls and a son, and three granddaughters. None of them know a great deal about Birmingham but I want to take them all to see the town I was born and grew up in. One day!

Apart from returning to work there for an insurance company at their offices on Colmore Row during 1981/82 I've never returned to live in Birmingham. But, as they say, you can take the boy out of Birmingham, but you can't take Birmingham out of the boy!

In finding Brummies talking, I'm hoping to learn more about the city I was born in and to share my personal memories along the way.

It's hard to believe that it's now 48 years since I left. Those years have gone so quickly. Perhaps I'll find new friends here to learn about how Birmingham has changed over all of those years. Or, perhaps, it's not changed that much?

Hi Tony

Welcome to our little family, I know Kyotts Lake Rd and Eliot St well but I'm afraid I know precious little about Shard End. So I may be able to help you with anything you want to know about a couple of the places that you used to live.

Hi Tony, I echo Phils comments and add a very great welcome to Brummies Talking. I read you story with great interest especially being in the printing trade myself, though not of course in Letterpress. I look forward to reading much more from you, make yourself at home pal. Sheldonboy.

Welcome to our latest recruit, Brookieboy, thanks for joining us pal I look forward to getting to know you.

Welcomre Brookieboy. i'm sure we will all be interested by your contributions

Hi geoff rookery road school brings back memories.I left 1954 went into the woodwork trade ,1960 was called up for national service . if i had been 48 hours younger i would have missed it. now living in telford, but still have fond memories of good old brum.